Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sarath Chand,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

, UYSM,

AVSM Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime Di ...

, VSM is an Indian politician and former Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

. He served as Vice Chief of Army Staff from 13 January 2017 till his retirement on 31 May 2018. He joined

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

on 6 April 2019.

Early life and education

Chand was born in

Kottarakkara Kottarakkara (IAST: Koṭṭārakkara), also transliterated as ''Kottarakara'', is a town and municipality in the Kollam district of the Kerala, India. The town is close to Kollam Port, which has a rich history linked to the early medieval per ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

and is the son of late N. Prabhakaran Nair and G. Saradamma. He is an alumnus of Devi Vilasam Upper Primary School, Neduvathoor; Sainik School, Kazhakootam,

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services i.e. the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force train together before they go on ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

and

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set u ...

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...

. He also attended

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – ( Indian Military Service, Indian Nav ...

, Wellington; higher command course at Army War College,

Mhow Mhow, officially Dr. Ambedkar Nagar, is a town in the Indore district in Madhya Pradesh state of India. It is located south-west of Indore city, towards Mumbai on the old Mumbai-Agra Road. The town was renamed as ''Dr. Ambedkar Nagar'' in 2 ...

and a National Defence College,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

Military career

Chand was commissioned into 11th Battalion the Garhwal Rifles in June 1979. He has vast experience spanning over 38 years and has served in all operational theatres and held active combat leadership role at every stage of command. He has commanded a company in the Kargil Sector of Ladakh and another company during

Operation Pawan Operation Pawan ( hi, कार्यवाही पवन ''Kãryvãhi Pavan'', lit. "Operation Wind") was the code name assigned to the operation by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to take control of Jaffna from the Liberation Tigers of ...

as part of the

Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lank ...

(IPKF) in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He has also commanded a battalion in Operation Rhino, targeted at infiltrators in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and Operation Falcon, along the

Line of Actual control The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the Sino-Indian border dispute, is a notional demarcation lineAnanth KrishnanLine of Actual Control , India-China: the line of actual contest, 13 June 2020: "In contrast, the alignment o ...

(LAC) in

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It share ...

; an infantry brigade in the desert, a counter-insurgency force in the

Kashmir valley The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range a ...

, IV Corps (

Tezpur Tezpur () is a city and urban agglomeration in Sonitpur district, Assam state, India. Tezpur is located on the banks of the river Brahmaputra, northeast of Guwahati, and is the largest of the north bank cities with a population exceeding 100, ...

) and GOC-C South Western Command (

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...

). In addition, he has held numerous staff and instructional appointments including instructor of the commando wing in infantry school . He was also served in the United Nations mission in Somalia (UNOSOM-II). He has also served as Colonel of the Regiment of Garhwal Rifles. He assumed the office of VCOAS on 13 January 2017 after General Bipin Rawat was promoted to Chief of Army Staff (COAS). and retired on 31 May 2018, succeeded by Lt General Devraj Anbu. During 38 years of his career he has been awarded the

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize exc ...

in 2006, the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime Di ...

in 2014, the

Uttam Yudh Seva Medal Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (UYSM; ''Great War Service Medal'') is one of India's military decorations for Wartime Distinguished Service. It is awarded for a high degree of distinguished services in an operational context. "Operational context" includes ...

in 2016 and the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) ( IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

in 2018.

Honours and decorations

Dates of rank

Personal life

He is married to Bindu and they have two sons; Abhilash Chand, a major in the

Indian Army Corps of Engineers The Indian Army Corps of Engineers is a combat support arm which provides combat engineering support, develops infrastructure for armed forces and other defence organisations and maintains connectivity along the borders, besides helping the civil ...

and Abhijit Chand, a naval lieutenant.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chand, Sarath Living people Vice Chiefs of Army Staff (India) Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal National Defence Academy (India) alumni Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Year of birth missing (living people) National Defence College, India alumni Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Army War College, Mhow alumni Defence Services Staff College alumni